As soon as I heard the news that “A Haunting in Venice” was being released in theaters on Sept. 15, I automatically streamed its two successor movies, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile.” Once I was done with that, I pulled a poltergeist and phased my way into the new film to the series. 

However, I walked out of the theater indifferent.

“A Haunting In Venice,” follows beloved detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) as he is invited by novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) to witness a séance for a young woman by the name of Alice Drake (Rowan Robinson), who died the year prior. Though Poirot was originally invited to prove whether or not medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) was a fraud, he is soon tasked with the duty of solving three murders. 

This film was an uninspiring experience. It’s hard for me to even recount scenes from the film, as nothing specifically stood out. The most I could enjoy from the movie was its great cinematography and satisfactory acting — which you would think would make it enjoyable. The scares were lackluster, the storyline deals with ghosts and I therefore would expect there to be some form of scare.

Everything was predictable: random little pale girl with wet long hair and a creepy face popping up behind a character as they look in the mirror after looking up from the sink, random chandelier dropping after two characters have an argument over whether or not ghosts are real or even a random knock on a door when everyone is quiet. 

I sat in my chair as I continued to watch this movie with disinterest, which I initially hoped would be the highlight of my night. However, the only thing I got from this experience was a sigh of irritation. I quickly walked out of the movie theater, contemplating all of the inexpensive things I could have done that would have been 10 times more enjoyable than this experience. 

Cool shots and acting can only get a film so far. Storyline is an important part of any movie, given that is what makes a movie. Too many times I found myself sitting there, confused, wondering if I missed some previous information that would have helped me better understand this movie. But no — it was just homeboy (Poirot) talking like the scene was put in 2x mode and his accent masking nearly all speech. 

Moral of the story, I’m disappointed and wish I could go back in time before this movie existed so that I could look at its two successors and say I enjoy the series, but now I have to live with the mental torment this brought me.